Clearance to Sprinkler Systems
I am wondering if there is any code or standard on the amount of clearance required to fire sprinkler system pipes? I know of the 18 inches of vertical distance to the sprinklers themselves but wondering about the valves and piping?
Comments (12)
Per NFPA 13, it says "System valves and gauges shall be accessible for operation, inspection, tests, and maintenance.". Aside from that, I'm not aware of specific clearance distance, per se. Maybe someone else can chime in, though.
Check with your local fire Marshall they can give you guidance to there code if it is different from NFPA 25 & NFPA13
Of the to of my head I do not know.
However, I just had a flash back! Memories of what happens when sprinkler heads are to close to warehouse racking. In my last tour of duty in operations (about 1997) two of use were the only managers on third (midnight) shift with about 300 hourly employees. I ran my fanny off. My primary area of responsibility included Shipping and the Warehouse. At least once or so a month a fork lift operator would his a sprinkler head and douse thousands of steel hydraulic hose couplings in thousands and thousands of gallons of water. Even though they were Zinc coated many would still rust and we would have a lot of scrap in finished goods! After occurring many times we would finally ordered the top level of the racks could not have loaded pallets on them. Still we hit sprinkler heads! Finally the company spend a could million dollars and raised entire Warehouse roof by 5'. Even then once a year or so a sprinkler head still got hit. Ruined many of my nights!
Good Luck! Thanks for the bad memory! :)
The minimum is 18" from sprinkler head. It does not matter if the head is pointed up or down. And it is basically an 18" plane for the entire system. The sprinklers are designed to overlap and that clearance is needed for the overlap to occur. The only difference is if there is a flush mount sprinkler in an acoustic tile ceiling, the clearance may need to be 24" if the heads drop once activated.
As far as the valves go, Drew is correct that there has to be clear access to them. I spoke to a fire chief and he uses the same 36" rule that is used for storage close to electrical panels.
Hope this helps.
As there does not seem to be a published distance for Fire System piping, I would move to make it a company policy to keep a 12" distance to help prevent accidental damage. I know in a warehouse space is a premium however a damaged sprinkler pipe can result in quite a lot of damaged merchandise.